Venezuela: smear and slander to justify invasion

April 23, 2018 00:23

The creation of a chaotic economic image in Venezuela is one of the objectives of the local right and its mentors in Washington, committed to the so-called “humanitarian crisis” argument to justify aggression seeking to put an end to the Bolivarian Revolution.

Photo Pixabay

Luis Beatón

Until now, although it has affected the population and its well-being, the trials of all manner of war, whether media-fuelled, fourth generation, call it by whichever name you care, have failed to make an impact in the face of the Venezuelans’ will to defend their sovereignty and not be cowed by external coercion.

However, their pockets are being hit hard daily by the effects of the economic war being waged.

Nicolas Maduro

Julius Henry Marx, known by his stage name Groucho Marx, was an American actor and writer, considered by many, including Woody Allen, as one of the best comedians in history.

For Groucho ‘politics is the art of seeking out problems, finding them, making false diagnoses and then applying the wrong remedies.’ This phrase is very true when you look closely at reality in Venezuela. Internal agents, steered and financed by powerful external influences, say the United States, are seeking out problems in the country, falsely diagnosing a humanitarian crisis and are attempting to implement solutions that only serve the interests of these external powers which are clearly aiming at appropriating the country’s invaluable wealth.

Highlighted among the problems faced by Simón Bolívar’s (The Liberator) homeland are the economic aggression of external powers, the difficulties created by the price of illegal dollars and the hike in price of every imaginable good, especially Venezuelans’ basic foodstuffs.

Over the last month prices have been spiralling such that, as May 20 – the day of the presidential elections – approaches, it is possible that if the government does not take stronger measures, a dollar will be worth a million bolivars. At the moment, it is worth around 500 thousand bolivars on the black market.

Photo Pixabay

A currency reform announced by President Maduro is scheduled for June, and according to analysts such as Venezuelan lawyer and activist Juan Martorano if the situation continues as it is, the proposed ‘sovereign bolivar’ will be worthless. With three less zeros, this is the currency that is to be circulated in the middle of the year.

With a little over a month to go until the presidential elections, the black-market exchange rate is on the rise again having somewhat slumped after being at 260 thousand bolivars per dollar in February.

Some blame the government – a conclusion which does not stand up to argument because it defies comprehension that an administration would do something that might lead to its own downfall.

In this regard, Martorano suggests that “this is not random or coincidental, since it accords with a general strategy for the May elections, as well as encouraging economic problems such as hyperinflation and partial default (in connection with upcoming obligations the Republic has regarding servicing foreign debt). ”

Cryptocurrency Petro. Photo Prensa Latina

The analyst adds that media and financial operators, linked closely with sectors of the opposition, such as Jesús Casique, Aristimuño Herrera y Asociados, Econometrico, AFP and La Patilla, indicated just over a month ago that the slump in the value of the dollar against the bolivar on DólarToday , the exchange rate reference for the bolivar, was not due to the implementation of monetary policies by the Bolivarian government.

These operators themselves warned that the dollar would recover by April, something which would have devastating consequences for the Venezuelan economy. This part of the aggression is currently being felt. It is evident that this aggressive manipulation of the economy driven by the illegal dollar price quoted on the stock exchange is part of the strategy used by finance and media sectors to intensify the smear campaign against the government and its economic policies.

The aggression also involves the cryptocurrency, the petro, predictably looming as the dollar’s grim reaper as a universal and preeminent currency.

Photo Pixabay

It is an open secret that this strategy seeks to raise the levels of disapproval and dissatisfaction of Venezuelans against President Maduro a few weeks before the presidential elections.

Many are urging Miraflores, the seat of government, to take drastic measures, and a possible response may be that announced by the National Superintendence for the Defence of Socioeconomic Rights (SUNDDE), which is urging compliance with the marked price of goods and services.

You do not have to be an expert to realize the abuses that the general public faces regarding distributors of food and other services and goods. SUNDDE has issued a statement warning against non-compliance with marked prices. However, more is needed: according to those affected, the monitoring and processing of offenders.